A study report prepared by a special commission of New York-based Asia Society, in the backdrop of unabated violence, shines a light on the problems and challenges of policing in this country. The report says that "high crime rates throughout the country, relatively low conviction rates of prisoners on trial and heightened concerns about instability spilling over from Afghanistan indicate that there is an urgent and critical need to invest in and reform Pakistan's law enforcement infrastructure."
The report goes on to note that the police force is hampered by "severe deficiencies" in technology and training. And further that the police system "simply is not structured to reward good behaviour, as merit-based opportunities for professional advancement are scarce, low pay is the norm and a lack of support and resource compels even many well intentioned officers to misuse their authority in order to survive."
Clearly, the report talks about dissimilar issues meriting different responses. So far as normal policing is concerned, reform is overdue. The present structure is a relic of the colonial era tailored to serve as an instrument of control rather than to serve the public. Senior police officers get important appointments, promotions or transfer orders at the pleasure of their political bosses. No wonder police are highly politicised in this country. Those in the lower echelons are poorly paid, which is believed to be a major cause of rampant corruption and resultant inefficiency. Also, their training is fear-oriented, encouraging torture and abuse of detainees. A significant attempt at reform was the Police Order of 2002. Unfortunately, it did not go very far. What is needed is a strong will to reform the system by freeing it from political influence and establishing public accountability mechanisms.
However, the heightened concerns that the study report mentions about instability spilling over from Afghanistan refer to an entirely new phenomenon: terrorism perpetrated by well-armed, battle-hardened militants. The police have neither counter-insurgency training nor the necessary equipment to deal with this menace. In fact, in the worst affected parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, violent extremists routinely target police personnel. Last April, some 500 militants attacked a Bannu jail and released hundreds of inmates, including a death row prisoner, leading to severe criticism of the police for their inability to resist the attack. The criticism seems to be unwarranted considering that the jail staff lacked necessary technology and training to fight violent extremists. But the incident certainly pointed to weaknesses in the system, that need to be taken care of. The Asia Society commission has made a number of recommendations to improve police performance, including adoption of a balanced approach in funding anti-terrorism operations which, it says, so far have been geared towards defence sector with very little ever reaching police institutions. Also, it urges training of anti-terrorism investigators at each police station, along with special units with direct access to data from private cellular telephone operators. None of this may be new, but the problem is that most of such suggestions remain unimplemented.